Thank Goodness We Still Have Black Flies!Long considered the scourge of northern forests from Mother's Day in May to Father's Day in June, could Black Fly Season be fading?

摘要

After a long, cold New Hampshire winter, the cruel irony of soft, warm days in May and June is the emergence of hungry hordes of biting black flies.Painful, itchy neck and scalp welts from blackfly bites are a traditional trial of springtime in New England. Yet black fly season seems to be shrinking as warmer temperatures arrive earlier, shortening the time of optimal black fly breeding conditions.Springs with fewer black flies have the potential to affect many other species.Once hatched, black fly larvae occupy an important niche in freshwater ecosystems as an underwater prey species. The tiny filter feeders are food for hungry fish, amphibians, cmstaceans and carnivorous aquatic insects. Adult black flies also play an important role in the terrestrial ecosystem as a pollinator of early wildflowers—and notably as a pollinator for wild and domestic blueberries.